Hannah Stephenson discovers the joy of ebikes on a trip to Gloucestershire
Cheat!” I hear my grown-up children exclaim as I sheepishly inform them that I will be getting a little battery assistance on a cycling excursion in the Cotswolds.
Until a few years ago, cycling purists and gym addicts may well have held that view, admits James Milner, managing director of Wild Carrot (wildcarrot.co.uk), an eco-adventure tour company that runs guided ebike tours and glamping experiences.
“There used to be a stigma attached to it, that ebikes were for old or unfit people, but that has largely gone. We are getting lots of couples and groups who want to try them,” says Milner at company HQ at Manor Farm Barn on the historic Chavenage House Elizabethan estate in Tetbury, Glos.
With an eye on sustainable energy, the hybrid ebikes are solar powered and charged by the company’s solar panels (unless you run out of juice over a longer time, in which case you can plug Tesla batteries into an electric socket), and of course, they’re not pumping out CO2.
I had long eschewed the idea of what I perceive as a challenging cycling holiday (steep and sweaty). The inevitable humiliation of being overtaken by an intimidating snake of overzealous road bikers in designer Lycra and clipped-in shoes, heads down, calf muscles rippling, had me wobbling before I’d even sat on a saddle.
My husband, a keen cyclist, gently observed that some of his cycling pals of a certain age had converted to ebikes to give them freedom to go further without being completely exhausted by the end of the ride.
So, on the condition we could stay at a luxury country hotel after my introduction to assisted cycling, I was persuaded to try a new “Cycle & Stay” package. It includes ebike hire and is offered by The Painswick Hotel, part of